Grain Products
American Heart Association recommendation: Eat a variety of grain products, including whole grains. Choose six or more servings per day.

Grain products, such as bread, rice, pasta, oatmeal, cereal, and tortillas, are generally low in fat and provide fiber, vitamins, minerals, and some phytochemicals. Most of the foods we eat are refined grains such as white bread, white rice, pasta, and pretzels. Refined grains do not contain as many nutrients as whole grains.

A whole grain is the entire edible portion of a grain. A whole grain includes three parts, each with a valuable store of nutrients:

• bran
  contains large amounts of B vitamins, minerals, and fiber
• endosperm
  houses most of the protein and carbohydrate, and small amounts of vitamins and minerals
• germ
  contains B vitamins, minerals, and some protein

White flour, which is the base of many of our foods, is made by refining whole grains. During the refining process, most or all of the bran and germ are removed. White flour that has been enriched has certain nutrients added to it: iron and some B vitamins (including folate). However, many other nutrients are lost, these include:

• fiber
• vitamin E and vitamin B6
• minerals: magnesium, copper, zinc
• phytochemicals

Whole grains are a healthier choice, because the ingredients they contain can help lower the risk for heart disease. Soluble fiber (found in oats and barley) can lower cholesterol levels. Antioxidants, such as vitamin E, are believed to help prevent atherosclerosis and lower the risk for coronary artery disease.

It's easy to eat six grain servings per day. One serving is equal to:

• 1 cup flaked cereal
• 1/2 cup of cooked oatmeal, grits, or cream-of-wheat cereal
• 1/4 cup nugget or bud-type cereal
• 3 tablespoons wheat germ
• one pancake or waffle, 4-inch diameter
• 1/2 English muffin, hamburger roll, pita, or bagel (frozen kind; those from bagel shops can be up to four servings)
• one slice of bread or dinner roll
• one tortilla, 6-inch diameter
• 1/2 cup cooked rice, pasta, or barley
• 1/2 cup quinoa, bulgur, millet, or other whole grain
• 1/2 cup pretzels
• three to four small crackers

Finding the Whole Grain
The trickiest part about eating whole grains is figuring out which grains truly are whole. To do this, check the ingredient label. The product is a whole grain if the first ingredient is whole wheat or oatmeal. Don't be fooled by brown breads, some are dyed to be that color. Also, a food label that reads "wheat bagel," "stoned wheat," or "seven grain" is not necessarily "whole grain."

The following are whole grains:

• oatmeal
• whole wheat
• quinoa
• brown rice
• popcorn
• some cold breakfast cereals, for example:

  Cheerios
  Granola or muesli
  Grape-Nuts
  Nutri-Grain
  Raisin Bran
  Shredded Wheat
  Total
  Wheat germ
  Wheaties

• some hot breakfast cereals, for example:

  oat bran
  oatmeal
  Quaker Multigrain
  Roman Meal
  Wheatena

• some crackers, for example:

  Triscuits
  Wheat Thins